Henderson going for third GP title

For Henderson to guarantee himself his third Grand Prix title he has to cross the finish line this weekend at the Gananoque Nickel Cup in every heat he's in all the way up to the final or he faces the possibility of Matthieu Daoust winning the event and stealing the championship from him.

It's not going to be easy for Henderson. In the opening heat, Daoust will be in lane one and Henderson will be sitting right next to him in lane two. Filling out the field is the Grand Prix division's other top drivers in the standings.

Henderson does, however, sit 37 points ahead of Daoust in the Hydroplane Racing League (HRL) standings and the Brockville driver definitely doesn't feel comfortable with that lead.

With Henderson needing to finish each race, the name of the game is making sure everything in his boat is in working order.

Henderson and his crew members have gone through their checklist of what they need to do and have, "Double checked and triple checked everything," said the local driver.

"We just have to be absolutely consistent. We have to be prepared. I's dotted and T's crossed," added Henderson. "We've gone over it.

That's where the crew is so great about making sure I've got something that is top-notch. I'm pretty excited about that."

If Henderson can pull out the title then this victory will hit home a little more than the other ones.

In the past when Henderson won a Grand Prix championship it was in Beauharnois, Que.

With the Nickel Cup postponed from June to September due to record-high water level of the St. Lawrence River, the Gananoque event is instead closing out the HRL season and, although he's won the Grand Prix title twice already, this time will be his first opportunity to hoist the trophy just down the road from his hometown.

"The fact the championship is going to be decided in Gananoque, it's going to be pretty cool one way or another," said Henderson. "It's almost a hometown race for me. I know there's going to be a lot of people from Brockville there, which is exciting. For me, it's not so much the pressure, but having the support. The more support you get the more confident you get."

The weather is expected to be nice all weekend. Henderson checked the forecast beforehand and his smile probably grew a little more when he saw the reports.

He prefers to personally beat his competitors instead of Mother Nature doing it for him.

"I want to beat them on the race course. You never want to go out winning a championship where you get a wind delay or weather or anything like that," said Henderson. "We want to be able to do it so we can say that we did it on the race course."